Prince Harry: Duke of Cambridge would love to be in Afghanistan

Prince Harry has finished his tour of duty as an Apache helicopter pilot in
Afghanistan and insists he has earned his place there. Harry admitted a bit
of jealousy from William and cannot see why his brother should not be able
to join him there.

Speaking alongside an Apache attack helicopter at Camp Bastion, the 28-year-old co-pilot gunner said there was no reason why members of the Royal family should not be “shot at” if troops on the ground are facing the same dangers while taking on the Taliban.

The Duke, 30, who is the future Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is an RAF Flight Lieutenant and works as a Search and Rescue Force pilot on Sea King helicopters based at RAF Valley on Anglesey.

But the second in line to the throne has never seen active service because it is considered too dangerous.

Prince Harry believes his brother could fly Chinook helicopters with emergency medical crews on board to pick up casualties.

He said: “I think there is a bit of jealousy, not just the fact that I get to fly this, but obviously he'd love to be out here. And to be honest with you, I don't see why he couldn't.

“His job out here would be flying the IRT [Immediate Response Team], or whatever, doing Chinook missions. Just the same as us. No one knows who's in the cockpit.

“Yes, you get shot at. But if the guys who are doing the same job as us are being shot at on the ground, I don't think there's anything wrong with us being shot at as well.

“People back home will have issues with that, but we're not special. The guys out there are. Simple as that.”

No future monarch has seen active wartime service since George VI, then known as Prince Albert, who served with the Royal Navy during the First World War.

His brother, the then Prince of Wales, who later reigned briefly as Edward VIII, also served in the Great War, as a staff officer behind the front line at the Battle of the Somme.

Prince Harry admitted the jealousy between him and his brother works both ways.

“Before coming out here I was very jealous of my brother,” he admitted.

“His job's very cool, and I think he's doing a wonderful job, even though he's in the RAF” he joked.

“It's operational flying back home. You get all the luxuries of operational flying - the pride, as you call it - and the reward of basically in his case saving people's lives, which is exactly what we try and do as well.

“And back home he gets to go home to his wife and his dog, whereas out here we don't. We're stuck playing PlayStation in a tent full of men.”